Observations on politics, news, culture and humor

Taking down the Blogfather

Iranian-Canadian Hossein Derakhshan, known as the “Blogfather” for his immensely influential role in helping kick off the Persian blogosphere, has been sentenced to 19.5 years in jail. Derakhshan was first jailed in 2008 just two weeks after returning to Iran. He made his name as an opposition blogger, but things got weird with him doing some pro-regime apologism from 2006 forward. I don’t care what he believed or with whom he associated, no one deserves to be locked in a cage for writing or saying anything. Not even for a day, let alone nearly two decades.

Don’t forget this man’s name. The Iranian regime is capable of being embarrassed and shamed into doing the right thing. Macleans runs down some good CBC coverage of the case here.